Zoloft? More depression after 2 months?

Zoloft? More depression after 2 months?
D

Devon2BFree

Registrant
In addition to seeing a T, I have been doing the Zoloft thing for about 2 months. I have heard that after 2-3 months the "magic" kind of plateaus and then actually decreases. I understand that possible at 2-3 months some Dr.s will increase the dosage. I am beginning to see a slight return of depression yet I don't want to increase the dosage. I feel as if "the perp" has won if I continue to do the drug thing. I want to be strong on my own. Have others really experiences this after 2-3 months? I thing I will hang in there and just push through and see what happens. I don't like taking this stuff anyway, but it has helped. I just feel "powerless" depending on something on the outside to help. I just want to feel great most of the time with out "drugs." It was a big step to agree to do the Zoloft, I don't want to feel weaker and ask for a higher dosage. Perhaps I will just wait a few more days, do some exercise and see if this passes. Thanks for letting me write (nonsense). Devon
 
5 years ago I was seeing a councilor for work-related reasons. First day in, I tell the guy never to prescribe conventional medication, or I walk. After 2 months of sessions, he finally states that I should take Zoloft. I was pissed, but committed to continue with him because I just didn't have the time to start over with a new councilor, so I got the meds. I only took 1 pill before I had a chiropractor session, and I tell her everything. (Drugs can screw up her tests.) When I told her I had just taken my first pill of Zoloft, she didn't say a word but took a massive medical book on medications and their effects.

"...can cause permanent brain damage after a few months of prolonged use"

(Sound of flushing toilet)

Next session, councilor asks if I started taking the pills, and I lied and said yes, never telling him I started taking St. John's Wort. Not the cheap crap by Jamison, but true wort from a naturopathologist.

Never trusted conventional meds, never will. Hell, even Tylenol is lethal after a year or two of regular use.

Hmmm... I should go back and get some SJW if my current therapist approves.

MR
 
Wow!

I was just prescribed Zoloft this morning! I have been dreading to go to the PCP today because I knew he was going to prescribe meds. He wants to put me on Wellbutrin and Zoloft.

I may need to see how this thread runs before I take any of it. I'd rather be depressed than permanently brain damaged!
 
Devon,

Yeah the Zoloft should be working after two months. I havent used Zoloft but did use another SSRI in the past for depression. I was very reluctant to go on meds and didnt like the idea of dependence either. I am so glad that I did use the anti-depressants. I have been off them for four years now and took them for two periods of two years. They got me out of the habit of depression and I am not sure I would have survived without them. I had very few side effects any I had were far outweighed by the positive. I feel the abuse was winning when I was depressed not when I was on the meds. I think it shows strength to take proper care of ourselves and if that includes meds when we need them thats fine. Sometimes it takes trial and error before finding the right meds and the right dose to suit an individual. The exercise is a good idea, I dont do enough myself but it really does help when I do.

What MR says about Zoloft causing permanent brain damage is simply untrue; there is an idea that scientific tested medicine is less trustable than natural remedies. Tobacco, heroin and cannabis, come from plants and are natural as are many other poisons. No matter how big the chiropractors book that claim is not borne out by medical science. Zoloft has been approved as safe and effective by the drug regulators the world over. I know that in Ireland St. Johns Wort has been banned by the drugs regulator as harmful. It also has some dangers in its interactions with other drugs and the research on it is poor. Conventional medicine is researched and tested so-called natural/alternative medicine is not. Some of it can be useful but a pretty picture of a plant on the bottle doesnt make it safe or useful.

Peter.
 
Thought I would comment on this as a historian of medicine.

Modern medicine as we know it today basically emerged after the First World War, and the advantage of its medications is that their results and effects are so thoroughly tested before the drug is licensed. I can't imagine that Zoloft would be used so widely if there was a danger of brain damage after two months.

On natural medicine being around for hundreds of years, sure. But a lot of it was and remains ineffective and remains in use due to the influence of cultural traditions. With no more than this to provide medical help, 60-70% of children were dying before the age of 5 and average life expectancy was about 40.

Larry
 
I have been on and off antidepressants for the past 20 years. I would do well for maybe 2 or 3 years and then have to go back on them. I also continued to binge drink alcohol to numb the pain I could not fiqure out. I finally put my abuse and the problems it caused together 5 years ago after reading a book on Family from my medical Dr. After fiquring this all out after all these years and then trying to get an apology from my SO CALLED PARENTS, with no results, I became very depressed and am now on Effexor and am now cutting that back. I have been on it for three years and still have my brains. My advice is don't mix it with alcohol and get regular exercise. PS. I also joined AA 9 months ago and have not had a drink since. What a bunch of bullshit!! Right?? But I am finally turning the corner and feeling better. Jolly Fisherman
 
i just have to weigh in and basically agree with Larry (something I find myself doing a lot lately). Our scientific, so-called "Western" medicine will never be completely risk free, but exhaustive testing is conducted to maximize safety (benefit to risk ratio). Western science is now beginning to look at the admitted benefits of complementary modalities from other cultures, but, honestly, a lot of testing is still needed. I would not reject out of hand "medications" from either East or West, but would cautiously proceed to find what works best for you.
 
I am a registered nurse. That fact by no means makes me an expert. However I have both taken anti-depressants and given them to hundreds of people in my work. I have found that there is a time in ones life when they are needed. I have seen very few problem related to their use and these reactions were only minor side effects.

Hang in there

Darrel
 
Well I must say feel free to risk your own lives with conventional medications. The FDA and any other organization similar to it in other countries only have 1 view: money. Go ahead. Try to convince me otherwise. They pump this shit in you and rake in the money, leaving you with a slew of secondary effects that far outweigh the goal of the drug. Geez, just look at the choice of word they use: drug! The DEA should be cracking down on this crap for endangering people's lives, yet they just keep approving this stuff as if it's the miracle cure. What's being approved out there after being "tested" are not cures, but suppressions. The pain still remains, you just don't feel it the way your body was designed to do and process it and heal it. Conventional drugs disrupt the natural energies of the body.

The supposed study you probably read was no doubt biased in some way. In truth, ALL studies are biased in some way or another. No study can ever be purely objective. The human element is always in play, which is why there is so much disinformation out there, so many views on the same things. So which one is right and which one is wrong? Truthfully, the only right or wrong answer is your own opinion. Mine, for me and me only, will always be Zoloft is very damaging, and St. John's Wort (used appropriately) is quite beneficial. I've seen improvements using this natural alternative in myself and not you or anyone else can deny me this. I will never trust whatever the FDA and Health Canada approve, because in the end, it's not my health their more concerned with, but my wallet.

As far as I'm concerned, CASE CLOSED.
MR
 
not all meds work for all people . . My shrink has tryed 8 difrent meds with me at the moulment I am takeing 150 mg of Effexor . It hasent done much good eather
 
Devon
Granted anti-D's or for that matter any drug (St John's Wort included) aren't the be all and end all of depression and they do take up to 3 months to be effective. It all depends on how depleted the levels of seretonin in the brain are. They are designed to abate depression they're not a wonder drug to make you feel better just something to get you over the hump or in our case slump and when used in conjunction with therapy they are very effective.
What it comes down to is that we have to believe in ourselves and believe that we can get through this and the best way to do that is to talk about it to whoever will listen. No-one can truelly understand what we as individuals are going through and that includes other survivors, we can empathise but never really understand. Simply because we are all unique and have learnt to deal with our abuse in our own unique ways. What we have to do is identify our unhelpful coping mechanisms and un-learn them. As far as I see it the best way to do that is with the help of a good therapist.

MR as for your blatent statement about Zoloft causing permanent brain damage. Mate, you really shoudn't make blanket statements like that they are really unhelpful. I've been on Zoloft for close to 5 years now and I still have all my faculties. Drugs are drugs no matter whether they are synthetic or naturally occuring I think you shot yourself in the foot over that one. I hate to state the obvious mate but you are still emptying your wallet to provide drug companies with the money from your wallet

Tricky
 
Firstly, "I" never made the statement that Zoloft will fuck up your brain, an official published medical book did. Read the post, "mate".

Secondly, I wouldn't and don't buy the shit you'll find in a pharmacy, not even the "supposed" natural meds. They aren't even closely as effective as what I DO buy.

Thirdly, hey it's your life and your body. You are more than entitled to fuck it up as little or as much as you want. I've seen the positive results for myself from what I buy, and if you people are too thick to read my posts objectively, then I could royally give a rats ass what you do with yourself and the shit you ingest from what is "approved" by people whose only interest is your money, not your health.

MR
 
MR

Firstly, you may not have made the statement that Zoloft will fuck with your brain but you did state and I quote.

"she didn't say a word but took out a massive medical book on medications and their effects ... can cause brain damage after a few months of prolonged use". Without any reference to the said medical book for people to refer to therefore it is a blanket statement.

Your sarcastic use of the word "mate" doesn't piss me off because I know there are cultural differences between Yanks and Aussies. We use the term "mate" as u would use "buddy, pal or whatever else you use.

But what did piss me off is your reference of some of us being "too thick" to read your posts. Therefore, I think you should grace us with all the knowledge you have. And geez I must be too thick if I got abused in the first place hey mate!!!!! I can see that this site IS NOT going to work for me because of the cultural differences. Just because people have different opinions to you doesn't give you the right to put them down with statements like "if you people are too thick" Hey you know everything mate how was I to know that. I'm not a fucking mindreader.

tricky
 
Tricky,

Please don't take one misunderstanding as "this site IS NOT going to work for me because of the cultural differences." I've met a couple of Aussies (as well as Germans, Russians, etc.) here and I'm amazed at how similar we all are. I mean, we're human beings who have had horrible things done to us. I've been writing one guy here who lives halfway around the globe and I mean it's like we're from the same family or something.

It's just so good to know we're not alone in this. In reading your story in your first post, I can tell you that you are not alone.

Hang in there, friend.

And to Devon, I've been on Prozac and various anti-anxiety medications for over ten years. I also wear glasses. It's not a weakness to wear glasses or even get my prescription updated so I can continue to see clearly. It's also no weakness to need a prescription to keep my brain chemicals working better. My wife can tell if I haven't filled a prescription, and she tells me, "Do we need to get you a refill?" So I wear my glasses and I take my meds. If it does something to me, so be it. It's better than being blind and dead.
 
Tricky and MR,

I saw your post about leaving the site, MR, and was not sure what the problem was. I guess it's here. I didn't see what was happening because I am currently on a visit to the USA to disclose to my parents.

Male Survivor isn't any more perfect than the rest of the very imperfect world, and after having been here awhile I wonder that the place holds together as well as it does. All of us have feelings and experiences that make us extra-sensitive to possibilities that we are being challenged or dismissed. At the same time we are all different, however, so we deal with these moments in different ways. This has happened to me more than once, and each time I tried to learn something and move on - how successfully, well, we will see one day I guess!

Being a part of this community helps us to get past the feelings of being all alone and gives us a forum to exchange views. I have made close friends from all over the world here. I hope you will both be able to set the current misunderstanding aside and stay on with us, but at the same time I respect your sense of boundaries and am not trying to dismiss your feelings in any way.

Much love,
Larry
 
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